News

2014-07-16

ASIA/IRAQ - In Mosul, the Islamic Caliphate orders: no aid to Christians and Shiites, while their homes are being expropriated

Mosul (Agenzia Fides) - The jihadist militiamen of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), who since June 9 control Mosul and have proclaimed the Islamic Caliphate, have ordered civil servants to suspend any provision of food aid and gas cylinders to the Shiites, the Kurds and the few remaining Christians in Iraq's second city. This is confirmed to Fides Agency by Christian sources in Mosul, after the news had been launched by the Arab website www.ankawa.com. According to what was reported by the local official Fadel Younis, representatives of the Islamic Caliphate have announced that any infringement of the prohibition will be punished on the basis of rules attributed to the Sharia.
In the city of northern Iraq - confirm sources of the Chaldean Patriarchate to Fides - even houses abandoned by the baptized are "marked" with the first letter of the Arabic word Nazarat (Christian).
Meanwhile in Baghdad MPs have elected the Sunni, Salim al-Jubouri as President of Parliament. Therefore the Iraqi political class is trying to start the process for the formation of a new government, while a third of the Country remains under the control of Islamist militias of the ISIL. In the last hours the army has launched an offensive to regain control of the city of Tikrit, the hometown of Sadddam Hussein, largely occupied by the ISIL in recent weeks. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 16/07/2014)